Is he tired or should I entertain him ?

[dibley30]

I posted this (sort of) on the sleep thread but think I got my angle slightly wrong !! Anyway, my ds is 9 weeks old - During the day he gets cranky/grizzly after being awake for an hour and a quarter from last waking. If I put him down with his dummy in he will drop off to sleep. I know it sounds very daft, but should I keep him awake and try to entertain him (if so - how?) or is the fact that he drops off so quickly with dummy in when I put him down an indication that he is in fact tired (he isn't yawning etc. before I put him down) - He usually spends half an hour or so kicking on his play gym after feeding and winding and before getting cranky - maybe he's being overstimulated and so gets very tired very quickly. Any other suggestions as to how to "entertain him" - what do other people "do" with their young babies. I tried picking him up and cuddling and then we had a little walk round the garden - didn't seem interested in either - he just carried on complaining so I don't think he wanted a bit of comfort from me. He's not hungry - I only fed him an hour ago.Any advice welcomed.
Thanks!

[throckenholt]

let him sleep - mine at that age (and for much longer) only lasted 2 hours awake normally, but sometimes if was not much more than an hour. If they got overtired and overstimulated it was a nightmare to get them to sleep.

[threebob]

He sounds tired, if he wants to sleep let him - in a few months you will be wishing he slept more.

[dibley30]

Thanks for that - he's dozing next to me and is out for the count. I've come to the conclusion that it makes no difference to his night sleeping and if he needs to sleep, he needs to sleep - I try not to let him have a massive sleep in the day in case he won't then sleep at night...and think he's having a bit of a growth spurt at the moment anyway so he's doing everything a bit differently.

[dibley30]

Thanks for that - he's dozing next to me and is out for the count. I've come to the conclusion that it makes no difference to his night sleeping and if he needs to sleep, he needs to sleep - I try not to let him have a massive sleep in the day in case he won't then sleep at night...and think he's having a bit of a growth spurt at the moment anyway so he's doing everything a bit differently.

[curlew]

Let him sleep - he's too tiny for daytime sleeps to make any difference to how long he sleeps at night-babies need a lot of sleep - although you wou;dn't think so from the way some of them behave! As somebody once said to me - "babies only have to do two things, eat and sleep. how come they're so useless at both!"

Needless to say, make sure that you sleep for at least some of the time he sleeps. I know everyone says it, but it make SUCH a difference!